Eleven federations for Euro 2034, Macedonia in a joint bid with Serbia and Slovenia

The deadline for letters of interest expired on Wednesday and the EHF announced: eleven federations want to host the European Championship in 2034. For the men's Euro, to be played from 10 to 29 January, interest was registered by Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey and Macedonia. The Faroe Islands applied only for the women's Euro, and they and Luxembourg have never hosted. Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia have an agreement on a joint bid: under the initial plan two groups would be played here, with the finals in Belgrade. Official bids are due by 1 March 2027, the decision falls at the EHF Congress on 18 September 2027 in Ljubljana, and the format will feature quarter-finals for the first time. After the women's Euro 2022, which we hosted with Slovenia and Montenegro, this would be the second major championship at home. The competition is half of Europe, and the question for our federations is an old one: will the arenas and the organisation be ready in time, or will we improvise at the last moment?

Barca and Magdeburg unbeaten, Porto beat Partizan for the first time

In the men's Champions League, Barcelona and Magdeburg remain perfect after two rounds. Barca struggled in Montpellier and won 28:27, with goalkeeper Sergio Hernández the key man, while Magdeburg routinely spoiled Kriens-Lucerne's first home game in the Champions League, 39:29. Porto, who had previously lost twice to Partizan in qualifying, now beat them for the first time, 32:28 with eight goals from Antonio Martínez, leaving the Serbs pointless after two rounds. Drama in Poland too: Sergey Kosorotov scored 20 seconds from the end for Wisła Płock's 25:24 against Melsungen, and Aarhus, with a 25:25 draw against Dinamo Bucharest, registered its first point in this competition ever. Partizan, with Raúl González on the bench, are so far only counting defeats and need a solution fast.

Dortmund from minus nine to victory, Reistad with 13 goals

In the women's Champions League, Borussia Dortmund pulled off the comeback of the weekend: nine goals down to CSM Bucharest (13:22), they won 35:32 and ended a run of seven games without a win in the elite competition. The Romanians, who until then had the best attack in the competition, dropped their first points of the season. Henny Reistad scored 13 goals for Esbjerg against Krim (37:31), and in the 43rd minute also recorded Esbjerg's 4,000th goal in the Champions League. Metz, winning 35:24 at Podravka, reached 12 games unbeaten, Győr beat Storhamar, and Brest spoiled Maja Savić's debut on the Budućnost bench with a 27:22 win. Gloria Bistrița inflicted a first defeat on Odense in the round's standout match, and Swedish goalkeeper Evelina Eriksson was player of the match with 14 saves.

Tikvesh beat Esch but went out: Luxembourg advance from Kavadarci

Both first-round matches of the EHF European Cup were played in Kavadarci, in the Jasmin hall, and HC Tikvesh finished them with a 33:32 win on Sunday. Except that the day before they lost 27:30, so Luxembourg's Esch advance by one goal on aggregate. In the return leg Kavadarci led 3:1, then let Esch go four up (11:7), it was 12:14 at the break, and the mini-comeback only arrived in the final ten minutes - enough for the win, not enough for the tie. Ben Mahfoud scored nine goals, Lazov eight from eight attempts. Coach Kristijan Grchevski has plenty to analyse: a team that can win, but cannot hold the pressure for a whole match. Macedonia is left with three representatives in the European Cup - Ohrid and Alkaloid, winners of the trophy in the last two seasons, and Skopje's Butel - all in the second round.

Superliga, round three: the favourites did not break sweat, Pelister convincing in Struga

The third round of the Macedonian Superliga passed without a surprise. Alkaloid took Kumanovo apart 37:21, champions Vardar beat Mladost Bogdanci 44:34, a third win in three, even though the match was played in Bogdanci rather than Skopje. Eurofarm Pelister beat Struga 33:25, already seven up at the break, with captain Filip Kuzmanovski scoring seven goals and Nikola Mitrevski making 11 saves. Ohrid outplayed Butel 41:32. The only drama was in Avtokomanda, where Pelister 2 beat Multi Essens 30:29. If the Superliga is training for the favourites, what is left for the rest but to count defeats? The real tests for this quartet are in Europe, and there Vardar have already lost to Nantes.